


Not What I Wished For

by Izout



Category: Stand By Me (1986)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izout/pseuds/Izout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fed up with Ace's constant harassing, Gordie wishes that Ace was never a bully. Now he finds himself in a world where that happened, but is Castle Rock a better place now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not What I Wished For

Not What I Wished For

Summary: Fed up with Ace's constant harassing, Gordie wishes that Ace was never a bully. Now he finds himself in a world where that happened, but is Castle Rock a better place now?

A/N: An idea that popped into my head that I thought would be fun to explore. Plus, I think it's a shame that there's not a lot of fics that focuses on the friendship of the boys since that, IMO, was one of the highlights of the movie.

* * *

 

It was a mild day in Castle Rock. Not too hot, but not too cold, in fact it was just perfect. Except that nothing was happening at the moment. At the tree house, the boys were trying to find ways to keep themselves entertained. Chris and Teddy were playing a card game, while Gordie and Vern were reading comics.

"Gin." Teddy muttered as he put his cards down. "Ugh, this is boring. Can't we do anything else?"

"Like what? We only know 4 games." Chris asked him as he shuffles the cards.

"Maybe we could go to the Carnival?" Vern suggested. Everybody just stared at him.

"Oh, what, you have money or something?" Teddy asked him sarcastically.

"Oh maybe he finally found his pennies?" Chris questioned as he and Gordie laughed.

"No! Well, no I haven't found my pennies yet…," Vern trailed off. "But I do have money." As he said that, Vern reached into his pocket and pulled out a HUGE wad of dollars. Everybody stared at him with their jaws' dropped.

"Verno, where the hell did you get this cash?" Chris asked him as he and Teddy and Gordie just stared at the money.

"Billy gave it to me," Vern explained, "He told me to use it to have some fun." Vern said with a smile on his face.

"Well what are we waiting for ladies? Let's go!" Chris announced as all four boys started to leave the tree house. In the back of his head, Gordie thought there was something off about this, but he ignored it and followed the others.

* * *

 

The sun was starting to set. The sky was turning a beautiful orange color as the blue in the sky was starting to fade. Not that it matter to the boys as they had just left the carnival and were on their way back to the tree house, pigging out on cotton candy.

"Man, today was kickass!" Teddy exclaimed excitedly as he jumped up into the air. "But man, Gordie, you can't shoot for shit!" Teddy smirked at Gordie as at the carnival, he and Gordie were playing Duck Hunt and Gordie kept missing the ducks.

"Says a guy who shoots at imaginary people." Gordie deadpanned as he saw Teddy chuckled.

"This was a great idea Verno," Chris complimented Vern as he wrapped his arm around the chubby boy. "But why did Billy give you all that money? Did your mom make him?"

"No, Billy said he wanted us to get out of the tree house once in a while and have some fun." As Vern said that, he felt Chris' arm slide off his shoulder. He turned around and saw Chris just standing there froze. As were Teddy and Gordie.

"W-Wait? Why would Billy want us to get out of the tree house and have some fun?" Chris questioned this. "Why would he care about our tree house unless-"As Chris deduced this, his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. As did Gordie's and Teddy's. All three looked at each other, and then ran off to the tree house.

"Hey! Guys wait!" Vern called out as he followed the other boys.

* * *

 

When the boys got back to the tree house, they just stood there in shock.

The tree house was a messed.

All of their stuff was one the ground, planks of wood had been forcefully ripped apart, and comic books had been shredded in two. The table had been broken apart and was on fire a little.

"This-This-This can't be happening. This can't be happening?" Teddy asked himself in a whispered. Suddenly, the roar of an automobile was heard in the background as the boys turned their heads and saw the Cobras pulling up in their cars, snickering at them and smoking cigarettes.

"Told you I would get you back." Ace smirked as he flick a cigarette away and told the others drive off. Chris ran off them and shot them the bird. Teddy was grabbing Vern by the collar and shaking him.

"Why didn't you realize this was a trick?! Are you that retarded?!" Teddy shrieked as he screamed at the chubby boy.

"Teddy! Teddy! Lay off him, he didn't know!" Chris shouted as he stepped between the two, trying to break up the fight. "Back off Tuchamp!"

"You back off!" Teddy shot back as he pushed Chris. Chris pushed him back, and the two got into a shoving match until Vern squeezed in to break them out.

"Guys? Guys, fighting isn't going to fix this." Vern tried to reason with them. The two just stared at Vern, then Teddy walked over to the fallen tree house. "Can't we just rebuild it?" Vern asked the guys.

"Yeah," Chris answered, "It's just a tree house, we can fix it out. Maybe add some carpeting." Chris joked to try to lighten the mood. As he and Vern walked over the tree house, Chris turned his head to look at Gordie, who hadn't said or done anything since they got here. "Gordie?" Chris walked over to him and nudged him a bit. "Gordo?"

Gordie just stood there, fist shaking, and tears starting to form in his eyes. With a sniffle, Gordie ran away from the fallen tree house, tears streaming from his cheeks.

"Gordie!"

"Hey Gordie!"

"What's wrong with Gordie!" All three boys shout out as they watched their friend run away. Gordie just ran and ran until he stopped into an alley and broke down crying. It wasn't so much the tree house getting trashed that upset him, it's what it represented. That tree house had been made by Denny and him, just the two of them when Denny was about his age. And Ace had ruined it. And it wasn't just that, his entire life has been forced to be a living hell because Ace apparently has nothing better to do then be a bastard to him and his friends. First with the constant picking, then stealing his brother's hat, and now the tree house.

Gordie cried some more until a strange sent hit his senses. He looked up and saw a shadow standing over him. As he stood up, he was it was a woman. Clearly elderly in looks as she had very wrinkly skin, peppered with freckle-moles, and her gray hair twisted into two very long braids that go down her back. She smelled of strange spices. She wore a white outfit with a zigzag lines going across it, both of them red and black on top of each other. And she had a walking stick with a crystal at the top.

They just stared at each other, and then she reaches into her pocket and got out a wrapper. "Ginger candy?" She asked him in a slight raspy voice. Gordie just stared at the candy, and then he took it, unwrapped it, and started chewing on it.

"Thank you." He thanked her in an almost soft whispered. The elderly woman just put her hand on his shoulder, then rubbed it to comfort him.

"I saw the whole thing." She told him. "I'm sorry for your lost, but it can be rebuilt, of course?" She asked him. Gordie just looked up at her.

"It's not just the tree house, it's everything!" Gordie yelled at her a bit. "Sorry," he apologized for raising his voice at her a bit. She nodded her head, understanding what he meant and to continue. "I hate Ace. I hate everything about him. I hate everything he does to me and my friends and…" he trailed off. "I really fucking hate him!" He growled, and then looked at her. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

"It's ok, young man, we all need to get some stuff off our chest." The elderly told him, nodding her head in understanding. "Let me tell you something. Why don't I grant you a wish?" She asked him. Gordie stared at her like she was crazy. Then, he nodded her. Just for the record, Gordie doesn't actually believe her, but he's just humoring her since she went out of her way to comfort him.

"Wish? Wish… okay, I got one." Gordie told her as he stood to face her. "I wish… I wish Ace was dead!" The elderly woman stared at him in shock.

"Oh, young man, I know you don't actually mean that?" Gordie just stared at her with a look on his face that said, 'Are you serious?' "Young man, all life is precious. Some people may not make the best of their lives, but nobody ever truly deserves to die." She told him as she put a hand on his shoulder and look at him with a comforting look on her face.

"Maybe I did go too far…" Gordie trailed off as he rubbed the back of his head and looked to the sky. After a few second, Gordie looked at her, and made his wish. "I wish… that Ace… was never, even ever a bully." She smiled at him and nodded.

"Wish granted." As she said that, she lifted her arms and pointed her walking stick to the sky. Nothing happen at first, but then the crystal on top of the walking stick started to blink and Gordie started feeling weird. Suddenly, there was a strong gust of wind that ripped right through them. The ground started to shake and Gordie tried to keep his balance. The sky started to change into a mixture of different colors and flashes of lightning lit up the sky. Eventually everything died down and things returned to normal.

"What was that?" Gordie demanded from her an explanation as he looked around.

"That was me granting your wish." She explained to him. "Have fun." She smiled as she saw Gordie run out of the alley. He ran and ran until he bumped into something fleshy and both fell down.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm so sor-…" As Gordie hastily apologized, he looked up at who he had bumped into and was shock at who he saw.

It… was Ace, but at the same time he couldn't be Ace.

This 'Ace' had brown hair combed back instead of being a bleached blond. He was clean shaven, and he wore a plaid green and yellow shirt with navy blue suspenders, a red bow tie, and brown dress shoes. He also had a tan backpack looped around his shoulder.

"No, I'm sorry, are you okay?" 'Ace' asked him in a soft voice. 'Ace' then looked at Gordie's arm and some blood on his elbow. "Oh my God, that's a nasty scrap. Here, let me fix that." As 'Ace' said that, he took Gordie's arm, reached into his backpack to get a bottled water, and then squirt some water on the scrap to clean some of the blood off. Then, he reached into his backpack again and got out a bandage, which he wrapped around his elbow to as so it wouldn't get infected. "There, all better." He smiled at Gordie.

Gordie just stared at him like a deer in the headlights. This couldn't be real. "Ace?" He asked him. 'Ace' just shot him a look of confusion.

"'Ace'? Who's 'Ace'?" This was making Gordie even more confused. "Oh, I'm sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves, now have we. I'm John Merrill, pleasure to meet you…?" John trailed off, waiting for Gordie to answer. Gordie eventually snapped out of his trance and answered.

"Oh, I'm Gordon. Gordon Lachance, but everybody calls me Gordie." Gordie stuck out his hand for a handshake. John happily shook it and smiled.

"Lachance? That name sounds familiar… hey, you wouldn't happen to be Denny Lachance's little brother, would you?" The way Gordie sadly nodded his head gave him all the confirmation he needed. "I'm sorry for your lost. Your brother was a great person. It's a shame he was taken far too young…" John just shook his head while looking down. "Hey, I know something that will cheer you up!" With that, John reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a cute fluffy baby bunny rabbit with a bandage on its right foot. "I was taking this little guy down to the nature preserve where the good folks there will treat him up right. Want to come?"

Gordie just stood there in shock, then shook his head 'No'.

"No, no, I have something I need to take care off right now." Gordie lied, but he didn't know what else to do in this situation. John looked disappointed, and then nodded his head in understanding.

"Ah, I see, well I hope to see you around Gordie. Have a good day." With a smile, John continued on his way, petting the baby bunny.

Gordie just stood there like a statue, not believing what he just saw. That… was Ace… and he was… nice?

"So, I take it you are pleased?" Out came a voice.

A familiar voice.

Gordie turned and saw the same elderly from before.

"You? What? Ac-Joh-Ace-John- what just happen?" Gordie asked her with a look of confusion in his eyes.

"I granted your wish, of course." She answered him with a smile. He still looked confused, so she continued, "You see, when you wished that Ace was never a bully, I took us to an alternate world, if you will, where Ace never grew up to become the delinquent you know him as."

"Ar-Are you sure this isn't prank? That Ace paid you to do this?" Gordie asked her suspiciously. She merely chuckled at him.

"Of course not Gordon," she told him. Gordie was about to ask her how she knew his name, but then he figured she probably overheard his and Ac-John's conversation, so he didn't bring it out. "If you don't believe me, feel your head." As she said that, he did touch his hand and was shock at what he felt.

It was a hat. When you took it off, it wasn't just any old hat, it was Denny's. He smiled at the hat with tears of joy and then looked at the elderly woman.

"There's one more thing I want to check out." He told her and she nodded her head in understanding, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

* * *

 

There is was, the tree house, looking exactly the way it did before the Cobras trashed it. Gordie couldn't believe his eyes. This place… it was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Ace was a nice guy now, his brother's hat happen be stolen from him, and the tree house looked like no one had touched it. This place… was heaven.

* * *

 

"Thank you thank you thank you so much." Gordie thanked her repeatedly as they walked through town. "Everything about this feels too good to be true. I can't wait to tell the guys." As Gordie said, the elderly woman's face went from happy to concern.

"Gordon," She said to him, "I don't think that would be a good idea." Gordie gave her a funny look.

"What are you talking about? This place is paradise. I'm sure they'll be happy about having to never worry about Ace again…" As Gordie trailed off, another thought came to him. "Hey! If Ace never turned bad, then maybe that means there are no more Cobras. Yeah, the guys will be happy to knowing we'll never be bothered by those assholes again."

"Gordon, there are things about this world's history you do not understand…" Unfortunately, what she said appeared to have gone on deaf ears as when she and Gordie were walking near Irby's Billiards, they saw one of Gordie's friends leaning across the wall of the place.

"That's Chris!" He pointed at the other boy as he looked at her with a smile on this face. "I can't wait to tell him the news."

"Gordon wait! He's…" But it was too late as Gordie was already halfway there to Chris.

"Hey Chris!" Gordie shouted as he ran over, smiling and waving at him. The other boy looked up at the other boy and smirked.

"Hey," Chris replied back coolly, which cause Gordie to stop in his tracks. Gordie felt there was different about Chris; something… off about him. Normally when Gordie saw Chris, he normally felt a feeling of warm and friendliness from him. But this time, it was different. He felt a coldness radiating from Chris, as well as a feeling of dread. With each step Chris took towards him, a voice inside Gordie's head was screaming RUN RUN RUN, which was weird, since Chris looked exactly like Chris, buzz cut and all, though strangely he was wearing a black T-shirt instead of a white one.

"…. Uh hi?" Gordie greeted him as he took a step back.

"How you doing?" Chris asked him smirking as he took a step forward. This went on for every exchange of dialogue they had.

"…Fine…"

"You having a good time?"

"… Yeah…?"

"Good, good. That's a nice hat you have."

"… Thanks?"

"It looks good on you…" Then suddenly, Chris' smirk turned into a sneer as like lightning, he quickly snatched the hat from Gordie's head and put it on his. "And now it looks better on me." Chris cackled a bit as he watched with amusement as Gordie tried to get the hat back.

"Chris what are you doing? That's mine!" Gordie protested as he jumped around, trying to get the hat back as Chris took the hat and swapped it around in his hands, leaning back so Gordie couldn't reach it, and jumping backwards every now and then. Getting fed up, Gordie grabbed Chris by the shoulders and shook him angrily.

"Chris, what's the matter with you?!" Gordie demanded. This caused Chris to shoot a death glare at him.

"Hey man, back the fuck off!" Pushing him off himself, Chris then did something Chris had never done to him before.

He punched him.

Now, don't take things the wrong way, Gordie and Chris had fake wrestle and fake box and roughhouse plenty of times in the past, but this was different. Chris had actually physically strike him.

And it hurt. Like hell.

"Oooow!" Gordie whined as he rubbed his sore shoulder, the spot where Chris had punched him. As Gordie continue rubbing, a person had set out of Irby's and walked over to the boys.

"Hey Christopher, what's going on? Is this kid bothering you? Do you want me to beat him up for you?" When Gordie looked up, he saw who the voiced belong it.

It was Eyeball, Chris' brother. And what freak Gordie out even more was that Eyeball had his arm wrapped around Chris' shoulder in a brotherly way.

Gordie blinked twice just to make sure his vision was working.

"Nah Ritchie, this kid was just giving me a present. And besides, beating him up would be like snapping a twig." Chris explained to his older brother, his arm wrapped around Eyeball's neck. "Thanks for the hat." Snickering, Chris had Gordie a small salute and the two brothers walked off. Gordie just stood there confused.

"Gordon! Gordon, are you okay?" The elderly woman asked him concern as Gordie turned his head to her.

"I- what just-Chris? It can't be…"

"I'm afraid it is," She started. "That is Chris, but not the Chris you know." Gordie just stared at her confused, so she asked him a question.

"Gordon, do you remember how you and Chris met?" Gordie looked down, his eyes flickering back and forth as he tried to remember.

"Yeah, yeah, it was in third grade." Gordie started. "It was lunch time, and I couldn't find a place to sit until I saw Chris sitting by himself alone. I knew my mom told me to not go near him because he came from a bad family, but he didn't seem so bad to me, so I sat next him now. A few minute later, Ace showed up and tried to start shit with me by trying to take the lunch my mom gave me, and Chris stood up for me, and since that day, he and I had been best friends ever since."

"Well young man, that didn't happen here." She told him.

"WHAT?!"

"Gordon, my ears." She told him as she stuck her pinkie in there to massage it.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Anyway, as I was saying, that didn't happen here. Since you wished that Ace was never a bully, he never tried to steal your lunch, Chris never stood up for you, and the two of you never became best friends. In fact, the two of you never even talked to each other through school. To each other, you were just another face in the hallway." She explained to him.

Gordie couldn't believe what he just heard. "But, why was he hanging out with Eyeball? The two of them never got along before in the past?"

"You may not have realized it Gordon, but it was because of your friendship with Chris that made him believe he did not have to turn out to be a bad seed like the rest of his family. Since you two never became friends, he never had any reason to believe he would not turn out bad, so instead of fighting it, he embraced it." She explained to him. Gordie couldn't believe what he heard. This was a lot to take in.

"I'm going to go find Teddy." Gordie told her as he strolled off. She quickly followed him.

"Okay, but I should warn you though, it will not be any better."

* * *

 

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

Gordie waited patiently at the door of the Duchamp resident. After seeing how Chris turned out, he just had to see how Teddy was doing. A few minutes later, he heard the lock click, the door open was there was Teddy. Gordie breathed a sigh of relief, Teddy still looked exactly the same: sandy blond hair, thick rim glasses, and dog tag.

"Hello?" Teddy greeted him. Though, the way Teddy greeted him felt weird. Normally Teddy was off-the-wall crazy, but this Teddy seemed calm and mellow.

"Hey, Teddy Duchamp?" Gordie asked him.

"Yeah… and you're Gordie Lachance." Teddy replied. "Can I do something for you?"

"Uh…." Gordie drawled, "Want to hang?"

"Sure… come on in." Teddy invited as they walked through the house and into Teddy's room. Gordie was shocked at what he saw, usually Teddy's room was filled with posters and toys of old war heroes and movies, but instead it was filled with… Butterflies.

"You… collect Butterflies?" Gordie asked Teddy as he looked around, seeing butterflies pinned in various glass cases.

"Yeah," Teddy started. "Butterflies are pretty. And they are nice and safe." Then Teddy started pointing at various butterflies to identify them, "This is a Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly, and this is a Large Marble, and this is an Orange Sulphur. This is a Tailed Copper and this is a Golden Hairstreak, and this is a-"

"You knit too?" Gordie asked Teddy as he was looking at a half finished scraf with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah," Teddy replied with a twinge of excitement. "Fall is coming soon and I want to be ready. You know what they say, 'Knit one, pearl two—"

"Teddy, knitting is for pussies! What the hell?" Gordie exclaimed at him; he couldn't believe what he seeing.

"I appreciate it if you didn't use that type of language in my house please." Teddy stated at him with a slight glare. Gordie just backed away from Teddy for a bit, then made his way to the door.

"Uh, I have to go take care of something. It was nice hanging out with you, I'll see you again." Gordie told Teddy as he made his way to the front door.

"Okay, see you around." Teddy told him as he also walked to the front door then closed it when Gordie walked out.

After walking a few more feet, Gordie met up with the Elderly woman.

"You weren't kidding when you said it wasn't going to be any better. What happen to him?" He asked her.

"Do you remember how you met Teddy?" She asked him. Gordie nodded his head, remembering the day.

"Yeah, it was back when me and Chris were ten. Chris suggested we go to the park and when we reached there, we saw Teddy try to climb up a tree to get a kite that got suck up there. Chris kept telling him to get down because it was dangerous, but Teddy wasn't having of it. So Chris climbed up the tree too to get the kite. Halfway there, Teddy's foot slip and he almost fell down, but Chris caught him just in time. Since then, Teddy had been hanging out with us ever since…" Gordie then looked at her, "Are you saying that didn't happen here either?"

She nodded. "Yes, because since neither of you were at the park at the time, Teddy did fall and ended up with both a broken arm and broken leg. It traumatized him so badly, that he spent the rest of his life playing it safe." She looked into Gordie's eyes and could tell what he was going to say next. "You want to see Vern?" Gordie just nodded. "I can take you to him, but his situation will be even worse than Chris' and Teddy's." Then the two were off. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched and followed by none other than Teddy Duchamp.

* * *

 

The Tessio house looked normal on the outside, but on the inside, it was a different story. The living room was filled with rowdy teenage boys, most of them seventeen and eighteen, drinking beers, smoking cigarettes, and watching Jerry Lewis on TV. They were Eyeball, Billy, Charlie, Vince, Fuzzy, and three others. But one of them stuck out in big way. One of them was Chris.

"Chris? Chris is a Cobras? I thought there wouldn't be any Cobras here since Ace never turned bad?" Gordie asked the Elderly woman as they were watching what was going on through the window.

"There are no Cobras here." She explained to him. "But most of those kids were already friends before Ace united them together to form the Cobras. Chris hangs out with them because he has no friends of his own aside from his brothers." The boys were laughing at what was being said on the TV when Charlie said something.

"Man, I'm getting hungry. Where are the sandwiches?" Charlie asked as he looked around.

"Hold on, I'll get them." Billy told his friend before shouting, "Vern, get your ass out here with those sandwiches!" A few seconds later, in came Vern holding a huge tray was sandwiches. Vern looked worn out. His clothes were dirty with slight rips, he had bags under his eyes, and a few bruises and cut marks here and there.

"Here's your .. Here's your Roast Beef on Sourdough. Here you guys Turkey Breast, some on wheat, some on rye, with tomatoes, swiss cheese, lettuces, and mayonnaises." Vern gave them their sandwiches a small smile on his face.

"Good job Verno," Billy complimented his little brother as he inspected his sandwich, then he frowned and glared at him. "Where's my mayonnaises?" Billy asked him with anger hidden in his voice. Vern shirked back a bit.

"We're out."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I-I tried to tell you, but you told me to not bother you and the guys-" Before Vern could finish, Billy immediately bolted to his feet and took off his belt.

"You talking bad to me boy!?" Billy glared at him.

Vern cowered back a bit. "N-N-N-No!" Vern tried to defend himself. But it did him no good as CRACK! Billy's belt had struck Vern's neck, leaving a big red mark.

"Boy, I oughtta be beating the shit of you for talking back to me!" Billy proclaimed as he proceed to whip Vern, much to the amusement of the other guys.

"I told you it was worse." The Elderly woman told Gordie has they watched the horrific scene in front of them. "You remember how you met Vern? He was outside of a store waiting on Billy as he was in the middle of an initiation to be one of the Cobras. You guys passed him and he asked you if he could play with you guys for a while. Because Vern never got a chance to hang out with you guys, he was forced to hang out with Billy all the time."

"Nobody deserves to be treated like that." Came out a voice that shocked the old woman. She turned around and Teddy standing there just a few feet from them.

"Young man, what are you doing here?" She asked him. Teddy just looked down at his shoes, rolled them back and forth a bit, than answered.

"I followed you. I hope you don't mind, but I thought you were acting weird, so I wanted to see what was going on." Even though he was talking to her, Teddy was really addressing Gordie. But Gordie didn't say anything. "G-Gordie?"

On first look, Gordie looks fine, but on closer inspection, Gordie was livid. Fists trembling with rage and disgust as he watched the scene before him. Sure, he, Teddy, and Chris had dumped on Vern a couple of times (usually Teddy), but they were only just messing with him. This was just cruel.

"I've seen enough." Gordie told them both as he started to walk away. The other two followed in toe. For a few seconds, Gordie could have sworn he saw Chris glanced at them as they were walking, but naw, that couldn't be.

"Hey, where do you think you're going Girly Boy?" Shouted a taunting voice at the group of three. They slowly turned around and saw Chris, Eyeball, Billy, Fuzzy, Charlie, the other two boys, and Vern at the doorway.

"You again? Geez, you stalking us or something?" Joked Eyeball, "Or maybe the Girly Boy has a crush on you or something Chris?" This caused the others to laugh. Well, Vern only weakly chuckled because he was playing along.

Gordie said nothing, but glared at them. Then he opened his mouth to say something.

"How can you?" Chris just looked at him confused as he can see that question was directed to him. "How can you sit back and let this happen? How can you?!"

"Look kid, I don't know what you're talking about bu-"

"You're not the Chris I know!" Gordie shouted, completely cutting off Chris. "What happen to you? What happen to the Chris that would always try make peace with when people were fighting? What happen to the Chris that protected his friends? What happen to the Chris who told me in the woods he didn't want people to think he was some lowlife Chambers kid when we were looking for Ray Brower's body?!" Gordie shouted at him, then his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Ray Brower. Did he die here? Did Billy and Charlie ever find him? If they did, did Vern overhear them talking? But since they weren't friends here, would Vern ever tell anyone?

"Wait? You know where that Ray Brower kid's body is?" Eyeball asked him.

"Y-Yeah, in the Back Harlow road down at the Royal." Gordie replied meekly. Then Chris got a look on his face that said he had an idea.

"Hey you guys, you know what, if find that kid's body, we could get our names in the newspaper." Chris threw out his idea to the others.

"We could be on T.V." Fuzzy said.

"Sure!" Chris replied.

"We could be heroes!" Billy shouted.

"Yeah!" Chris exclaimed.

"Not yeah, they know." Eyeball moaned as he pointed at Gordie, Teddy, and the Elderly Lady. "We have to bring them along."

"No we don't…" Chris said as he pulled something out of his pocket. SWOOSH! It was a pocketknife. "'Cause they won't be alive to tell anyone." Chris said menacingly as we stalked over to the group.

"Gordie." Teddy tugged on Gordie's shirt sleeve trying to get him to move. "Gordie, we have to get out of here." Teddy tried to reason with him as Gordie just stood there like a statue. Eventually, Gordie turned to the others and shouted…

"RUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!" And so they did.

"Grrrr!" Chris growled. "Ritchie, Charlie, Fuzzy, go after the old lady. Billy and the rest, go after the four-eyes. The Girly boy is mines." With that, they all split up to get their targets.

* * *

 

Gordie ran and ran. The others thought it would be a good idea to split up to confused them. Gordie ran and ran until he ran into the alleyway of the Blue Point Diner to catch his breath. He couldn't believe what was happen. Chris… was trying to kill him… CHRIS!

"There you are…" Drawled a voice as Gordie turned his head and saw Chris heading towards him. Gordie accidently tripped as he fell to the ground and shuffle back in fear until he hit a wall. As Chris got closer, he pulled out the knife again and Gordie could see half his reflection in the blade.

"I'm sorry…" Gordie whimpered as tears starting falling from his eyes. "I'm sorry I let this happen." Chris looked confused. "I did something really stupid as I made a wish where Ace was never a bully, and this world was created, and I thought everything would turn out better, but instead it's wooooorsssse." Gordie tried to explain to him as his voice was cracked due to him crying. "You're like this and it's all my faaaaaaaulllt." Not being able to take it anymore, Gordie broke down crying. Chris just stared at him, then put his hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him.

"It's okay…" Chris told him softly, "Shhh, it's okay I believe you." Gordie looked up at him with tear filled eyes and a smile. Could Chris be really believing him and be turning back into his old self? "I believe… that you're crazy." Nope. Then Chris moved his hand from Gordie's shoulder, then to his face, caressing his cheek, then cupping his chin, lifting his face up so he could have a better view of his neck. "Don't worry. I'll end your suffering reeeeeal soooon." With that, Chris took his knife and raised it back, getting ready to stab it through Gordie's neck. Gordie closed his eyes in fear, waiting for the inevitable.

He waited… and waited…

After nothing seemed to happen, Gordie opened his eyes and saw that Chris was gone. In fact, as he looked around, saw he was in the exact same alley where this whole mess started.

"I'm glad you're okay." Proclaimed a voice that shocked Gordie. As he looked around, he saw it was the Elderly Woman. "I'm so glad I was able to help you-"

"Help? Help! That was some fucked up way of 'Helping', lady!" Gordie screamed at the lady. He was really angry at the woman.

"Gordon!"

"No! No! You said you wanted to make me feel better, but all you did was fuck up my wish!"

"Gordon, I did not do that. It is merely the nature of wish granting." She explained to him. Gordie looked confused, so she explained further. "You see Gordon, ever heard the saying, 'Nothing ever comes free'? The same thing applies to wishes. For every wish we make, they also come with a catch, a twist, if you will. When you ask for something or someone to be changed, you alter the events that happen before and after it. Sometimes for the better, but also sometimes for the worse. Sometimes even the best intention wish can have a terrible consequence to them." Gordie let her words weigh in on him, than he asked her something.

"But, if making Ace a nice guy made things worse… are you seeing Ace being a bad guy made things better?"

"Did they?" She asked him. Gordie looked down, thought, and bolted out of the alley before telling her…

"I have to go see the guys. Thanks for everything." Gordie called out to her. She merely smiled as she knew exactly what he was going to do.

* * *

 

The tree house was still in ruins, but Chris, Teddy, and Vern got collected enough supplies to fix up the place.

"Come on Teddy, stop playing around and get to work!" Chris yelled at Teddy as he was using the plank of wood in his arms and pretending it was a gun and he was shooting at enemy soldiers. "Teddy—Gordie?" As Chris was telling Teddy again, he turned his head and saw Gordie standing there watching them. Gordie was stonefaced, but quickly smiled when he saw that everything was back to normal. Chris was wearing a white T-Shirt instead of black, Teddy was his usual crazy self, and Vern looked perfectly normal… well perfectly normal for Vern. All three boys dropped what they were doing and ran over to Gordie.

"Gordie? Gordie man, you okay?" Chris asked him with concern. Gordie merely smiled and nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You were gone an awful long time." Vern commented. Gordie just smiled at him, then looked at the tree house.

"Yeah, I got to go think about some stuff. Wow, you guys got a lot of supplies."

"Yeah, you be surprised at what people leave lying around." Chris told him as he went to look at the tree house. "Man, Ace is a real asshole. Our lives would be so much better without him around."

"I don't know about that…" Gordie said and the others just stared at him shocked, so he continued. "Well, if it wasn't for Ace, we wouldn't have met each other. We wouldn't have become friends. And you guys… are the best friends I ever had…" The others just stared at Gordie speechless.

"Wow Gordie… that's… the gayest speech I ever heard!" Teddy snickered. Chris just rolled his eyes.

"I don't know, I actually liked it." Vern told Teddy.

"You would you sentimental pussy." Teddy shot back. Gordie just smiled as they all made their way back to the tree house. The Elderly woman was watching from afar. She smiled, and then turned her back to watch away, singing a little tune to herself.

**The End.**


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